The Visitor
by carmypen
Summary: After losing her duel to Yami Marik, Mai finds herself trapped in a world of suffering. There, she receives a visit from the unlikeliest of guest, but what has this strange young man come to tell her?


**The Visitor**

Eternity. That's what it felt like for Mai. At this point she couldn't even remember how she had gotten here, and the memories she had of the world before where so vague and fuzzy now that they did nothing to help the tumult of loneliness and confusion inside her heart. As far as she knew, this was all that had ever existed. Encased in an hourglass-shaped prison, waiting helplessly as sand constantly rained down on her, the minutes until it drowned her completely slowly ticking by.

The only thing she could do now was sit and watch the constantly changing landscapes outside her prison. The first landscape had been a vibrant tropical paradise, but since then it had shifted so many times that Mai could barely keep track. The scenes came from different parts of her old life. Once, it had showed the mansion where she had lived as a child. The next time, a magnificent boarding school where she had lived out her teenage years. Another time, it was the cruise ship where she had started her duel monsters career. Now it had gone back to the original paradise setting, only this time she recognized the people who inhabited it even less than before.

That was one of the worst things about this world. There were always people in theses constantly changing backdrops. She guessed that they must have been family, friends, or other people she had known in that "other world", but she honestly had no way of knowing. She had tried to cry out to them, begging them to help her in some way, but they could never hear her. Instead, they just seemed to continue with whatever they were doing, always having a good time and laughing blissfully.

Laughter. That was one of the other things that was terrible about this place. The laughter here was never-ending, and it was what cut at Mai the most. For her, it was a constant reminder of how irrelevant and useless she felt. It seemed to drive home the fact that there wasn't a single person who cared about what was happening to her, and she felt like even after the sand from the hourglass finally drowned her the laughter would just continue on and on.

The continuous laughter was also the reason why, when she heard the _other_ laugh, she barely noticed. She was sure that it was just another one of her faded memories mocking her as usual, but then she realized that this particular laugh sounded different. It wasn't a joyful laugh, like the others, but a sardonic one. It was the sort of laugh that came from a person who held all the right cards in his hand, and found his opponent's ignorance of that fact amusing. This laugh was also much louder, not distant and faded like the others, and seemed to be coming from above her instead of below her.

She strained her neck to look upwards. The laughter was coming from a pillar of dark colored smoke, which looked out of place in the sunny, cloudless sky above her. The smoke twisted and writhed. It then took on the vague shape of a human being before finally solidifying, leaving in it's place a pale young man with long white hair.

She didn't know why, but something about this young man's appearance struck a cord with her. There was definitely something familiar about him, although she couldn't recall a name or any other kind of information about him. Even so, she couldn't help but feel that she had at very least _seen_ him somewhere back in that "other world".

The young man ceased laughing, and looked at his surroundings.

"So this is the kind of punishment he gives." The young man said, talking to himself in a casual, mocking tone. "I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed. I expected someone like him to be a little more creative." He then looked down at Mai. "Although I suppose by now you're so far gone it doesn't make much of a difference, does it?" He laughed again.

In response Mai dug one of her arms out of the sand and reached out to him.

"Help me." She whispered, too weak to make her voice any louder. This was the first time anyone in this world had acknowledged her, and she was desperate for any kind of support.

"Hm?" The young man blinked and then leaded forward to get a better look at Mai. His face quickly turned from an expression of confusion to a twisted grin.

"Well," He said, "it seems you still have some of your soul intact after all. I guess you're stronger than I gave you credit for."

Somehow, he floated from his spot above the hourglass to where he was hovering right next to Mai, the glass the only thing separating his face from hers.

" Since you're just hanging here, I might as well give you some advice. I'm feeling a bit charitable anyway." He then turned and jerked his thumb at the beach down below. "Do you see those fools down there?"

Mai saw that he was indicating what looked like a group of high school kids. They were swimming and laughing, and seemed to be having a good time. She had no idea who any of them were, but like the white-haired boy here in front of her, there was something about them that seemed familiar.

"People like them always talk about how important their so-called friends are." He said with a sneer. "They say that bonds are what make them stronger. Yet, they won't hesitate to betray one another for things like money or power, and they're quick to forget about anyone who doesn't serve any useful purpose to them."

Mai just sat still as he continued talking. She wasn't sure where the young man was going with this train of thought, but this world had drained her so much that she didn't have any energy to respond to him anyway.

"The worst part is that they still insist on idealizing themselves. They want to believe that they're all innately good, but you and I both know that that's a lie, right Mai Kujaku?"

Mai jerked her head up, a bit surprised to hear her full name. If he knew that, then they must have, at the very least, met in the "other world" at some point. Although it didn't seem to do her much good, the white-haired youth wasn't making any moves to save her, he just continued talking. Although, there was something about what he was saying that Mai couldn't help but relate to.

"In the end," The young man continued, "The only way to survive is to look out for yourself. Everyone else-" he gestured back to the beach with a wave of his arm—"is just a pawn, a means for that survival.

He then looked Mai, a cruel glint showing in his dark brown eyes.

And why am I telling you all this, you may ask? I'll tell you why, it's because you and I are one and the same."

Mai was once again surprised, both by the young man's statement and by the sudden change in his voice, which had lost a little bit of it's mocking edge.

"Believe it or not, I've been watching you from the shadows for quite some time, and I've always felt that you and I have had a connection. We both understand how the world really works. You and I both know that real strength can only come from yourself, and that everyone else is just a means to an end!"

And there was no way Mai could completely disagree with that. Some of the strongest memories she had left were the one's from her dueling career, and in those memories there was plenty of evidence to denote someone who relied only on herself and who had no qualms with manipulating others. That was what had attracted her to her Harpy Lady cards in the first place. They gained strength by being equipped with armor magic cards, just like how she had had to surround herself with her own "mental" armor to prevent herself from getting close to anyone.

And as for using other people for her own gain, well, she couldn't help but smile a little as she remembered her preferred strategies for beating her dueling opponents. She had embraced the psychological aspect of Duel Monsters completely, using the fact that she was a woman, as well as her perfume strategy, to throw her opponents off their game. That had been a good time in her life, and remembering it brought back some of the strength she had lost here.

"Which brings me to the reason why I'm here." The young man continued. "I'm here to help you, Mai, so make sure you remember everything I've told you. If you want to survive in this place you're going to have to give up all these notions of friendship. Trying to cling on to the memories you have of others is only going to make your soul more susceptible to the shadows."

Suddenly, trails of smoke started to drift off the boy's body. Parts of him were beginning to disappear.

"Don't forget my words, Mai Kujaku, and, if by some miracle you do manage to make it out of here, come and look for me. I could make you part of something greater, and give you power like you've never imagined." And with those final words the rest of his body dissipated into smoke. The last thing to go was his twisted grin, which briefly hung in the air for a second before disappearing.

Once again, Mai found herself alone and surrounded by never-ending laughter. The only thing she could do now was consider what the white-haired young man had told her. Part of her just wanted to ignore him; how was she expected to listen to something that sounded like bad movie villain dialogue anyway? Besides, she still had memories-very distant ones at this point—of friends from the "other world". She could just vaguely remember how happy she had felt with them, and she wasn't sure if that was really worth giving up.

However, there was another part—a very strong part—that couldn't help but think that what the white-haired boy had said made a lot of sense. This world was where she was now, and the harder she tried to hold on to her old memories, and the more she tried to cry out to the people who appeared here, the worse it seemed to get. The only thing that seemed to give her strength was to lock everyone out of her heart, to put on her "armor" so to speak. This time however, the armor would be the young man's words. With them she could stay strong, and not let the loneliness of this world devour her. Yes, this world still seemed to suck out all of her energy and the sand from her hourglass prison kept falling, but as far as the laughter and loneliness were concerned she now had the strength to stand against it. And it was all thanks to him.


End file.
